Shadow of a Sword

This had to be a bucking joke. Blade once again found himself in that uncomfortable wooden bed. Weird, since everything else was crystal. It was so soft that no matter what he did he sank into it, and he could stand on water. As Blade turned over, he saw that there was another bed now in his room. Laying awake on the other bed, staring at him, was the golden colt.

“So, Blade Dancer, is it now? Fits your style.” He laughed a loud, hollow, laugh,

“Why don’t you go jump in a meat grinder? At least then I won’t have to listen to you for a few minutes.” Blade retorted,

“Unfortunately, it would be more than a few minutes. You burned both of our worlds. I’ve seen the inside of yours. I think you really underestimated the damage.” The golden colt said, more seriously.

“Class damage level?” Blade asked,

“Seven.”

Blade eyes narrowed as he thought about that. “Well, that’s not good. That means we are at pretty much Class Six instead of Zero.”

“Yep.”

Both colts were still angry at each other, but not at the level of hatred that everyone had seen during the combat..

“Possibility to repair?” Blade inquired,

“Low.”

Blade was looking at his long-time enemy. “I know that I have enslaved you for years. How much is it going to cost me for you to move past that and help me kill LOST?”

“I am willing to work with you. You may not know this, but I saw everything. Even when I was stored away. I saw what happened to your brother.” Blade’s body stiffened and his eyes flashed a shining crimson. “I also saw that you killed the Surgeon. Simple logic says that I should kill you for turning me into a sword, yet the Surgeon’s death weighs more in my mind. The Surgeon killed a pure boy, someone beautiful, to make me. For that I am still in your debt. So, I will try and help you contain your beast. I just hope I can contain mine.” With this, his amber eyes flashed a brilliant purple. He then rolled over to go back to sleep.

“Well, that went better than expected.” said Spike. He and Twilight had been watching, waiting to see if Cadence’s spell had taken. Spike and them both thought that it was a huge risk, but the other Princesses had believed it was a good idea. Fluttershy and Rainbow agreed as well. In the end, the only ones that supported not putting them together was Pinkie and Applejack, both of whom were known for avoiding their problems.

“Ok Twilight, they’re getting along. What are we going to do with them?” Spike asked,

“We can hear, you know? These ears really do have amazing hearing. If you have questions then just ask.” Blade responded,

“Well, we have questions for the other colt. If you’re willing to follow me, we can get everything sorted out”, Twilight asked.

Walking into map room, Twilight had Blade and the gold colt following her. All of the ponies from earlier were sitting around the crystal table, eating waffles. Surprisingly it was not Spike who had made the waffles, it was Celestia. Who, it turns out, enjoys making breakfast.

“Ok, if there is not at least a stack of those for us, I’m going to have to-“ Cough “What the f-“ Cough Cough. “I can’t swear!” Yelled the golden one.

“I figured that out a little while ago. It seems this world does not want our idea of swears.” Blade says with a straight somehow rude tone, almost as if he were offended. “Well, he is right. We’re growing espers, I hope you saved us food.” Celestia, in response, levitated over two very large plates of waffles. Both were covered in butter. She had skipped whipped cream, having heard they did not like sweets. The two dug in while sitting on the floor.

“Well, for the first question to our new guest. Who are you?, Celestia asks.”

“Well, if I saw correctly from inside Blade, your kind think names are important. Based on all of your names, call me Immortal.” He replied, after a moment of thought.

“Why that name?” asked Pinkie.

Immortal just smiled before grabbing a butter knife between two hooves and stabbing himself right in the head through the eye socket.

“Oh, sweet Celestia.”, mumbled Rarity as everyone began to freak.

“Oh, get a hold of yourselves…” Blade, having gotten used to this trick a while back pulls the blade out. “He is a Regenerator. They are not like your normal healers in stories, though. Esper Regenerators restore themselves into the conditions that they were by returning all of the atoms of their body back to the body. Watch the blood.” As the group looked up at the butterknife the blood slowing was slipping down the blade and flying right back to the body.

The ‘corpse’ lifted his head up and looked around. “Well that’s not as fast as it used to be. I’m going to have to work on that.” Immortal noted,

“Whoa! That would make you a true immortal! Someone that can never die.” exclaimed Candance.

“Not quite true. I still experience biological aging. Even if my atoms all return, the body can still fall apart. One day I will leave behind a very nice-looking corpse. For future information about my powers, I am a Class Zero like Blade, type: Lolita. Designation G-102372. Next question.” Immortal corrected and explained.

“Classes?” Shinning Armor questioned,

“Espers are not broken down in groups based on powers, as those are as infinite as the stars. We are broken down into three main groups; Berserkers, Lolita, and Machines. This is based on how we fight. Blade is a Berserker because he goes in with no concern for anything. Lolita are more playful and tend to try and enjoy their fights. Machines are logical and tend to focus on just the strategy to win. There is an old saying amongst Espers. Send a Lolita to fight a Berserker, send a Berserker to a Machine, and a Machine to a Lolita.” Immortal chuckled,

“Ok then, what is your plan?” Shinning Armor asked

“I don’t have one. I’ve always been a more roll with the punches type. We must kill LOST. Other than that? I’m just going to follow Blade. He is the one that always seems to think things through.” Immortal said passively,

“Blade Dancer has clearly stated that his powers are weaker than they were back home, are yours up to snuff?” Asked Luna, clearly thinking military strategy

“No. Blade gave everything both of us had to kill that monster. It’s going to take a little while of rest and food just to get us to fighting condition. If that is all, I have eaten and now I think it time for us to return to bed.” With this Blade Dancer performed a classic sarcastic earth military salute and smacked his horn. It was not extremely painful as it was not active, but he did manage to hit with enough force to knock his own head askew.

“What in the world is that? How did it end up on my head?” He asked, bewildered.

“You grew a horn after Celestia broke Immortal out. I think your body was still in flux. After all, with your powers, as they are closer to a Unicorn’s then to an Earth Pony’s.”, Twilight answers.

“Whatever, I am going to bed” Blade said in a monotone.

“Well class, it appears that Blade somehow had another colt inside of him, apparently. Celestia brought him out, of course why not, so now we have two new students in class. Why did I not listen to my dad and take the job in Manehatten. No, Dad, I like the countryside, small town living is where it’s at. Ponyville will be a quiet town. Never have I ever been so wrong.”Cheerilee was not the type of pony to hold this against her students. Even though both of them seemed to be the difficult type. Blade took notes but did not seem to care about anything she was teaching. Immortal had chosen to sit next to Blade. According to Twilight, she had legally adopted the young colts so that made them brothers after a fashion. “Well, Immortal? If you don’t mind I would like you to introduce yourself to the class.” She said, a smile returning to her face.

“Hello everyone, One: my name is Immortal. I am here because Twilight wrongfully thinks that anything this school can teach will hold meaning to me, a debauchery of an existence. Though, I would be willing to trade info on any illegal markets that you are aware of. I am an Esper, so don’t be afraid that I can’t handle it. Second, I am what you call Blade opposite, so I am a bit more friendly.” Yet, as this entire speech went on the whole class got more and more uncomfortable. Immortal’s smile did not reach his eyes. It was like he wore a mask, and all the happiness was just a lie so that they would not act scared of him. It felt even more unnatural than Blade. At least Blade seemed honest with feelings, or his lack thereof.

The two for the most part spent the entire class ignoring everyone. It seemed that the world could implode and they would not have reacted. Cheerilee caught them passing notes. Yet, it was some sort of art rather than letters. It came in the form of layered geometric shapes. She just told them not to do it again, not knowing the code but willing to spend the energy to learn.

“So, what are we going to do? LOST is here in this sad little world. He’s going to eat it for breakfast.” the first note read.

“No, he’s not. When he came through, he was so weak that another few seconds in the void would have finished him. I don’t think he has the power to even turn one of these ponies to despair. He’s going to need to find a major food sources to make himself powerful enough to even get his powers back.” came the responding note.

“So you think he’s helpless? Come on, Blade. You know that’s not true. Don’t tell me you’re afraid.”

Blade rolled his eyes. “You know that’s not possible. I am wounded. You may not have been paying attention, but there are creatures on this plane that rivaled our power in our prime. Celestia was toying with us. Even that blasted Shining Armor was not taking our fight seriously. Twilight told me that he can cover a city in a shield for over a week. If he had put all of his might into that shield thirty swords never would have cracked it.”

(Back in the Crystal Empire)

Shining Armor wished he could quit. As he headed for his Crystal Empire office, he lamented that being both the Prince of the Crystal Empire and Captain of the Royal Guard was way too much work. Yet, funnily enough, it would be easier to get out of being the Prince of the Empire. All he had to do is to divorce Cadence. That was still the easy option. In order to stop being the Captain, he would have to find a replacement that the other squad captains agree to, or get them to go back to having to make these decision themselves. Which would mean taking all the work back and those lazy bastards would never do that. Which is not surprising since each and every one was as crazy as Discord on his worst day.

The only reason that he allowed himself to take the job was a secret to Cadence. Celestia held Shining’s ability to marry her niece over his head to get him in the chair. Not surprising, since she lost all control of the captains without the last Captain to help her keep them reined in. He loved his wife enough to die for her and some days he still considered running away and joining a travelling show group. He always did love to act.

Well, at least their in Caterl- he thought as he opened the door to his office.

Shining Armor stepped back out of his office and spoke to the Crystal guard outside his door. “Why did you let these clearly crazy ponies into my office?”

The guard smelled of piss. He had clearly wet himself and Shining was sure that he was unconscious. He was sure if he pushed him he would fall right over. Well, time to go face to the madness. Standing in his office were an assortment of ponies, all of whom were known for being Shining’s problems, the cause of all his headaches, the Captains of the Equestrian Royal Guard Squads.

“It’s not ok to leave an old lady waiting Shiny.” Said the mare nearest the door,

“If there was a lady here maybe I would have hurried.” He snarked,

The Hag cackled. She was the Captain of Squad 2 the “Spell Squad” the only group amongst the Guard that was purely unicorns. They specialized in unicorn martial arts and in peace acted as the heads of the magical research and development division. Their Captains original name had been forgotten. At almost eight hundred years old everyone just called the slightly middle aged looking unicorn “The Hag”. She is the only living unicorn known to have mastered Star Swirls life extension spell.

Next to her was the Captain of Squad Three, the Wonderbolts, everyone knew Spitfire. She tended to give him the least trouble. Yet, she was also the weakest of the three tribal squads. Her whole squad was the weakest. Because of their long history of mistakes they had become more show than fight. Spitfire was trying to fix that, yet it was going to take almost as long as it had taken to cause the problem.

Squad Four, the Castle Breakers. Never get in anything physical with these ponies. Made up of all Earth Ponies that learned many Earth Pony magics that have not been practiced in ages. Many times, Shining Armor wondered how many of those powers could be really useful if learned in small doses. Their Captain was a Stallion named Iron Wall who put Big Mac to shame in every way. He was as tall as Celestia and built so solid that he looked like he could haul a mountain. Many joked that he must have Saddle Arabian blood.

Squad Five, the Castle Builders. They had literally been made because Squad Four broke too many Castles. They oversaw building anything ordered by the government. They built only the best and they did not skimp a single corner. Their Captain was a well-built Earth Pony mare named Silver Nail. She had been part of Squad four and had left after her foals were born. She was the only one of the Captains who did not make him pull his mane out. She was currently working on his desk. It had gotten scraped up when he had brought it from Canterlot. She felt now was the time to lacquer it and the whole room smelled like wood varnish. “Captain, you need to take better care of this desk. It’s older than the Hag. If you don’t fix these scratches the whole thing is going to develop off color.” Funny enough she had a whole unit that now lived in Ponyville full-time. Due to the towns habit of being leveled on a semiregular basis.

Squad Six was named “What Were You Doing”. Yeah, I know. If you could not guess from name, they were the medical squad. They had formed after some of the biggest wars before the fall of Luna. Its Captain, Water Lily, was a rather petite Pegasus mare. A master herbalist. She had spent a large portion of her life in the Zebrican lands. She wore a series of neck rings that had been a gift from her master and she was not a mare to underestimate. Her pale blue coat was surprisingly well maintained, her forest green mane tied up in a bun. It was surprising how much such a kind smile could hide. She was just as dangerous as the captains of the combat squads. Her squad was also in charge of regulating all of the hospitals and veterinarians in Equestria.

Squad Seven was the smallest of the squads, “Your Turn”. They were Equestia special forces unit. Their job was simple go in hit a target get out without being noticed. They were called “You First” was formed as result of a gathering together of members of the three tribe squads who always worked together on missions deep inside enemy territory. They petition the Princess to be allow to make their own unit. They had a very long history of always leaving more work when they make mistakes. Their Captain was sitting on his haunches in the corner, his brown coat showing off his straw colored mane. The unicorn was famous because he was good at using a combination of hoof to hoof and magic to break bones.

Squad Eight had been formed to help maintain supply lines. They were masters at moving anything that the Princess could want. Tartarus, they had been the ones that somehow managed to create a giant chariot that got Shining, Cadence, and a whole guard unit to the Crystal Empire in less than twenty four hours. Their Capitan was a Pegasus mare named Hope Seer. She was one of the greatest long distance flyers and runners in all of Equestria. She had used that knowledge to train the next generation. They also had the largest Civilian presence of all of the units, given that a portion that had grow out of them had formed the Equestrian Postal Service. It had been a small idea nine hundred years ago, but now it was how all mail and packages were delivered. She was reading a book waiting for everything to start.

Squad Nine was affectionately named by Celestia “You Saw Nothing” more commonly known by themselves as YSN. Shining had no idea who their Captain was. They had the most unique method of selecting a new Capitan was and that was for someone to assassinate and get away with killing the guy in charge. So, their Capitan just left him reports that he had no idea how they got there. The only thing that he knew about the pony was that they were captured by the changelings before the wedding and were the reason their entire intel network fell apart.

Squad Ten, and most think the Princess was having a bad day when she came up with the name and it just stuck, It was called “The Dump”. It was the largest of all the units. It is made up of the Town guards and all the record keeping guards who were basically security guards. It was where the largest number of Royal guards end up. Those who pass through squad one and don’t make it into any of the others, end up there. They were still required to wear the uniform though. The only way to tell them apart from other units is that each squad armor has a slightly different design that you would have to know to recognize. The fact of the matter was that to most ponies they were all just “The Royal Guard”. It had been a surprise to Shining himself to find out there was actually more than just the Royal and Town guards. It had taken him three weeks just to tell them apart. The Captain of this squad embodies this ideal with a light Brown coat and darker mane that he, somehow, even with those uncommon colors, remained plain as an Earth pony.

All in all, it was an annoying group of eight ponies in his office. He remembered that the reason that they had all chosen him was because he had done what almost no pony ever thought of doing, training under all of them. He had even succeeded in all the units that were not tribe specific. Both Iron Wall and Spitfire had even thought he had done well in not giving up. The Hag, well, he still had nightmares. She had almost decided not to give him back.

“You know Shiny, you still have not come by. I really think you should get down to learning Star Swirls life extension spell while you still lack wrinkles.” The Hag cackled,

“That’s nice” Shining Armor stated, ignoring the old mare.

Shining Armor found that she had yanked his head and was staring him right in the eye. “Listen to me when I am talking, colt. You have placed yourself in a very dangerous place. Three of the four known Alicorns in existence consider you to be irreplaceable. Luna fell from a weakened Heart, I would rather not see what happens if three Alicorns fall off the deep end.”

“I will consider it, but I think your underestimating my family.”

Iron Wall’s deep voice broke through the nonsense. “I hope you are not just here to talk about him trying to cheat death. We have this very incomplete report on the hostile inter-dimensional interlopers. You don’t expect me to believe that everything you know fits on a single page.” A series of nods show that the others had all agreed to come for the same reason.

“Yes, let’s start with where are they and when can I dissect them?” the Hag said with a gleeful grin.

“One, they’re in the capable hoofs of my sister and two, no. Just no. I was going to write another report today actually. When I wrote the first one, they had not even woken up from falling unconscious. Things you want to know, short and sweet of it. These two came here while fighting something that has even Discord worried. They seemed to have non magic based powers. Seem to be naturally sociopathic. Worst, the powers they have are the only shot we have at fighting this enemy. They don’t believe our magic will even work against this entity they call “LOST”.”

“Buck” said Hope Seer, “Well, then let’s hope you have some plan, Shining.”

“Yes, let’s not have a repeat of the Wedding, with all of us at the borders waiting for an enemy while they’re attacking our Capital. When we ended up getting back just in time to dance at the recital instead of crushing some bugs.” said Iron Hoof.

Shining Armor cleared his throat, “Well, I would like to start with you, Hope. The Princess sent ponies from squad two to the location where the other entity fell. They found nothing. The only thing we know for sure is it leaves a taint where it goes. I want you to help squad nine start looking. You have ponies everywhere with the Equestrian Postal Service. I know its not normal, but tell your post-masters to start asking all of their ponies to keep an ear to the ground. I would rather not rely on just squad nine for this.”

“I can do that, but you better be ready for enough gossip to drown in.” Hope Seer, said in what seemed to be in a sarcastic southern Swamp cant. [something]ed

Shining could not help but sigh at that, more work. Whatever could scare Discord was worth it though. “Fine. Water Lily, both of the colts say they’re hurt. They seem convinced that all they need is food and time. Doctors at Ponyville Hospital seemed lost on what their condition was, I was hoping you have your best unicorn take a look at it. If not, take those herbalist tricks of yours and try some potion efforts.”

“I have a unicorn mare that specializes in cellular examination magic. She should be more than enough to learn what their cells look like. I will call her to meet me up in Ponyville the moment I’m done here.” Water Lily nodded,

“Hag, I want you to go visit the damaged area from Blade’s storm.”

“Wait. Who?” The Hag tilted her head,

“Ah, yes, almost forgot. Pinkie Pie, the element of Laughter, named one of the colts Blade Dancer and the other wishing to avoid that fate named itself Immortal.”

It was Silver Nail that interrupted first. “You said that their powers are not magic based. Then what are they?” The others except the Hag all turned as the thought just occurred to them.

“I don’t know everything, but it seems to have similar properties to dark magic in that it cancels and erases magic. Blade’s storm took all the magic right out of my body. Blade’s power when he uses it seems to be similar to spatial conjuration. He compresses some foreign space into a sword and then uses it to cut with a level of sharpness I’ve never seen. They have limited amount of stress before they break. Thats not the scary thing. The colts only had this body for a couple of days, yet his fighting styles on the level on someone from my investigation squad.” That took everyone back.

“He has that much skill level despite his unfamiliarity with the body?” Spitfire was the one to ask.

Shining nodded. “I have not seen Immortal fight. I doubt he has that level of skill, but he more than makes up for it with his power.”

“You’re scared of it, Shining.” the Hag said.

“He’s a true immortal. Not just unaging like with the Princesses. I watched him lobotomize himself yet the pieces of the skull turned to dust and returned to him. It looked like he had done nothing. It was like injury meant nothing. According to Blade, both of them were stronger before. I’m not sure how you could make such terrifying ability stronger. How do you beat an opponent that never stops coming to kill you?” Shining asked himself more than anyone,

“Oh, I can’t wait to see this!” the Hag exclaimed.